Chapter 3510

Although Xia De returned a little late, Claire thought Xia De was busy with Little Mia's lunch, so she didn't ask much. Everyone had a meal in the Snow Mountain Hall, and Elder Vilda gave the three borrowed special rule cards to Xia De after the meal.

"Star 13 【Primitive Steam Engine·Atmospheric Steam Engine】, when drawing this card, if you already hold at least three cards, and all held cards are of the Star suit, you can adjust the number of this card to 1, 2, 12, or 13."

"Moon 2 【Power and Conquest·Conscription Order】, when drawing this card, if the opponent's hand size is greater than 3 and they have not stopped drawing, you can add a random card from the opponent's hand to your own hand; Flower 6 【Mechanical Invention·Steamship】, when drawing this card and it is not the first card, turn all your own hand cards face up for the opponent to choose a card. If the opponent does not choose this card, the opponent's final points are reduced by 1, and the chosen card is returned after selection."

Xia De read out the names, suits, and special rules of the three cards. After coming to Fatumunster Island, he had never touched Rod cards again except for playing cards with Major Lades at the Midnight Elk Club. Seeing three special cards he had never seen before, Xia De was actually very happy in his heart.

"You've already laughed out loud."

Claire on the side reminded.

The three cards belonged to the mayor of Kyle-Todd Town, who had little presence, the coachman driving the passenger bullock cart at the entrance of the small town, and the potion merchant Mr. Sargent.

Xia De carefully observed the faces of the three cards:

"I also have the 【Primitive Steam Engine】 series. Oh, and the 【Power and Conquest】 series! Although this is the second edition, wasn't this edition launched by the Diviner Association after the Year-End Festival because of the situation between the North and South countries? I didn't expect to be able to see the special cards in it here!"

Elder Harald was also looking at the three cards on the side. He had seen all three cards, but this did not prevent him from appreciating them again. Of course, the old man did not say that he could actually take these cards and go win back the lost cards himself. Although he was a bit impulsive in the morning, he was not a gambler who really had no brains:

"Then Claire, you go with him, win the cards back and come back, I'll wait for you here."

Claire arranged for Stella to go to the Time Wheel City pier with Matilda and the others to welcome Megan and Audrey, so Claire accompanied Xia De in the afternoon to win back Elder Harald's cards.

They couldn't delay too much time on this matter, and the witches also planned to have dinner together on the Glorious Messenger in the evening, so after playing cards and returning, Claire had to dress herself up well.

However, Elder Harald's gambling location in the morning was not the Diviner Association. He had a conflict with the diviners and would not play cards on their territory.

Specifically, after the two elders left the association in the morning, Elder Vilda had to go to the black market in Time Wheel City to purchase some items because of private matters. Elder Harald, who was waiting for him to return to the town together, took the opportunity to visit a friend in the city.

The old friend was not at home, but Elder Harald found the other party in the city park of Time Wheel City under the guidance of the other party's wife.

Although the area could not be compared with the "Regent Park" in Tobesk, even a small city like Time Wheel City did indeed have a city park.

This was a product born in the process of urbanization promoted by the steam wave. The City Hall believed that parks could provide a decent and healthy leisure place for residents in the crowded and "morally worrying" slums, guiding them away from taverns and immoral entertainment; citizens believed that building parks was the general responsibility of the City Hall and was a city infrastructure that should be obtained after paying taxes.

Coupled with the promotion of the Church of Nature, almost every city in the Old Continent could see parks or similar public areas.

And although the city park of Time Wheel City had requirements for the clothing of entrants, the park was open for free. It was located in the west of the city, which was generally east-west, and was not far from Victoria Street. The area of the park was about 6 acres. It was open from 8 am to 6 pm daily in the current winter. Inside, there were tree-lined paths for walking, lawns for picnics, viewing pavilions where music lovers might perform in summer, and some neatly built flower beds.

In short, when chatting with an old friend in this city park this morning, Elder Harald heard that a young man with very good card luck had recently appeared in the city, and the other party was very willing to gamble with others with special cards.

Coincidentally, the other party was also playing cards with others in the park at that time, so Elder Harald, who hadn't played cards much during the whole First Month, joined in, and then lost all four of his cards.

Xia De and Claire got off the carriage at the entrance of the park. Xia De saw the stone tablet engraved with the names of donors, and according to Claire, the person who contributed the most to the appearance of this park was actually the previous old bishop of the local Church of Nature whose name was not on the monument.

"That old man had a very good relationship with my maternal grandfather, but his age was even older than my maternal grandfather's. He retired and returned to his hometown when I was 13. When he passed away four years ago, my maternal grandfather even wrote a letter asking me, who was in Wilndale at the time, to go to his house to pay my respects."

Because the park area was very small, the city park of Time Wheel City did not have common artificial lakes. After coming here with Claire, Xia De, who had recently become accustomed to the natural scenery of the snow mountain, felt that the city park had a sense of comfort where modernity and nature were perfectly combined against the background of blue sky, white clouds, and snow mountains.

White frost hung on the branches, a group of female workers in straw hats were picnicking and laughing on the lawn, children were playing on swings under the care of nannies, and a middle-aged man in a woolen long coat with a mustache was behind a drawing board by the flower bed, looking at the snow mountain with a pencil held upright.

The elderly couple passed by Xia De and Claire. A wild cat from nowhere darted through the grass beside the park path at high speed. Although there were not many green trees and flowers in the park in winter, Xia De could see that Claire was in a very good mood:

"It feels like returning to a big city."

Elder Harald had heard of the guy who won his cards in the morning, and he was in the park until 3 pm today, so when Xia De and Claire came to the vicinity of the viewing pavilion in the city park, the Rod card duel was still going on in the pavilion.

However, today was Tuesday after all, so there were not many people watching this card game. The people standing in the pavilion in twos and threes were either tourists from other places or local gentlemen. Of course, there were also naval officers of Karsenrik who were on rotation, and the characteristic of all these people was that they didn't have to work today.

Claire didn't really want to get close to such occasions, so she walked past close to Xia De. At this time, the two sides of the card game were a "young man" described by Elder Harald and a somewhat fat middle-aged man with a nervous face.

The former's age was actually a bit older than the body of the Outlander, probably around twenty-six or twenty-seven, but he was indeed young in the eyes of the elder; as for the fat middle-aged man, judging from his dress, the cane placed by the table, and the servant standing behind him, he should be a local merchant.

The light brown-haired young man looked at his hand cards with a relaxed face, while the fat merchant was full of solemnity. Even Claire, who didn't know much about Rod cards, could see that the latter was probably going to lose.

Sure enough, soon the hand cards of both sides reached four, and then they stopped drawing at the same time. Although the young man had special rule cards in his hand, he didn't choose to use them, and won the victory with 20 points.

The fat merchant sighed heavily while covering his face, took out the special cards from his deck and placed them on the table, then left with his cane and his manservant.

The onlookers finally began to discuss in low voices, discussing that this was the 7th consecutive victory of the day. If it weren't for the delay of lunch, it was said that the winning streak could have reached 12 games.

The light brown-haired young man's dress didn't look like a member of a noble or wealthy family, but it was also quite decent. Elder Harald didn't say that the other party might be a ring warlock or used hidden means to cheat, but Xia De still sensed it cautiously first, and after confirming that there was no abnormal element reaction, he felt slightly relieved.

Seeing that the other party was already packing up his deck, but no one sat down opposite him, Xia De took the initiative to sit down in the position opposite him, and Claire stood behind Xia De.

She used illusion to make herself look like a man, so people only thought she was a good friend of this Northerner young man.

The light brown-haired young man smiled at Xia De:

"Good afternoon, strange gentleman, do you want to play cards? I have stakes here, you can bet special rule cards, or you can use crowns. But if you want to win special cards from me, you can only also take out corresponding cards. As for the specific rules, we can discuss them together."

Xia De nodded and displayed 【Primitive Steam Engine·Atmospheric Steam Engine】, 【Power and Conquest·Conscription Order】, 【Mechanical Invention·Steamship】, and his own 【Ancient Fairy Tale·Snow White】 from the top of his deck:

"Betting on special cards, I'm betting these four cards with you."

Seeing that all four cards were special rule cards, the onlookers discussed again, and the young man was also very surprised:

"Betting four cards at once, right? I want to advise you, it's better for us to bet one card first, you see the situation and then add stakes."

Xia De shook his head:

"No need, I came here just to bet four cards. In the morning, did an old man play cards with you? I want to win back those four cards for him."

Some people in the onlookers were there in the morning, so they told others what happened in the morning. And the light brown-haired young man across the table of course remembered Elder Harald. After all, it was hard for him to forget someone who lost four special cards to him at once after eating lunch:

"I see... I understand, but I have to declare in advance that if you lose, you must hand over the cards. No one can use any reason to renege."